Saturday, 10 November 2007

I couldn't think of any contrast colors to go with the original sage-y green color of the yarn, so I dyed the socks after knitting. I used about 2 g (eyeballed, not weighed) of Jacquard acid dye in 'brown' to get this shade.

I got started with the duplicate stitching following these instructions. Originally I'd used a dark pink for contrast but it was too bright and went instead with the French blue Rio de la Plata sock yarn, and the original un-overdyed yarn. The sock yarn is a cashmere blend yarn from China and was a generous gift from Maryann. The yarn is a bit inelastic, so these might end up as bed socks sooner than later, but my, what luxurious bed socks they'd make!

Mods for these socks include using thinner yarn with 2.25 mm needles (pattern calls for sportweight yarn to make 'man' sized socks), and knitting a half repeat less than called for because I was afraid I'd run out of yarn (I didn't, boo.) If you look closely at the ribbing, you might see that the dye didn't get into every nook and cranny, but you're not going to look closely, right? :-)

After knitting five pairs of socks in a row, I might take a short sock break. However, I feel absolutely no guilt getting some new sock yarn.

From left to right, Shibui sock yarn in peacock and mulberry, and Araucania's Ranco sock yarn.

Chameleon Colorworks' Evolution in Eggplant, Handmaiden Casbah in brick (both so incredibly soft that I don't think I'll make socks with them), and Dream in Colors' Smooshy in Gothic Rose, which has been wound into a cake. It's a huuuge hank and I wonder if I can squeeze a pair of knee socks out of them.

After seeing Polly weigh her sock yarn with some surprising results, I thought I'd check mine too. I'm happy to report that with the exception of the Chameleon Colorworks yarn, which came in at 2-3 g under the stated weight, all the other skeins are over, in Shibui's case 10%, the stated weight. Isn't it nice to get bonus yarn?

Thursday, 01 November 2007

Thanks for all the lovely comments on the socks. The sock rush felt really good, when the projects were all lined up to be knit one right after the other, and there was no ripping at all. Things slowed down a bit after that, and all I've got are these to round off Socktober:

They're the start of the Argyle socks from Veronik Avery's Knitting Classic Style. I love that the argyles are embroidered on at the end, so I could try different colors. You will see these again looking very different, I hope.

I think I lost some sock steam when I went to Tokyo for a few days last week. It was my first trip without kids in years; I was ecstatic and overplanned the itinerary. There was just no time to knit a single stitch! Craft shopping was possible this time as I didn't have to think about keeping the boys entertained. :-) One of the stops was Kichijoji, where both Avril (home of Habu yarns) and Yuzayawa (out of this world craft store) are located. I came away empty-handed from Avril, but OMG, Yuzawaya has so many floors of crafting goodies, I could have spent at least a half day there. I managed to get some bag handles and fabric.

Self restraint, no? And just a couple of books.

A little book with lots of simple bags, with some instructions for attaching leather handles. The second one has little household items as well as bags. I'm a sucker for slippers!

Now to get my sewing machine fixed so I can actually use some of this stuff!

Thursday, 18 October 2007

I had saved my sock knitting over several months for Socktober, and that really helped me to focus.

First up, some simple ribbed socks (Nancy Bush's Madder ribbed socks from Vintage Socks) in Regia's Kaffe Fassett sock yarn in the Carribean colorway for L. The rainbow socks I made for him last year using Regia yarn took abuse really well and I have high hopes that these will last too. Even though it's not nearly wooly-sock season yet, L has worn them already to 'skate' around the house.

Another Nancy Bush pattern, the Canal du Midi pattern from Knitting on the Road, is knit in Regia's silk 4 ply. Goodness, this yarn is so scrumptious (though a bit fuzzy). This color came off a bit on my needles, but there was no bleeding in the bath...strange. I found from knitting these that I'm not all that crazy about twisted stitches, though maybe it was the charcoal color that made things difficult to see. These are for my mil, who has size 3 feet, and modeled in the picture by Y.

As an ongoing campaign to spread handknit sock love to as many people as I can, I knit these for a non-knitter friend as a birthday gift. They're the Undulating rib socks from Interweave's Favorite Socks book and knit in Lorna's Laces (carrot).

Finally, some Sidewinders in Regia Mini ringel sock yarn for H. A pattern that stretches lengthwise is perfect for fast growing feet, right? I knit the size 9 N and they fit really well around the feet, but because there's hardly any elasticity widthwise, H could hardly pull the socks on over his insteps. Did you notice these socks are inside out? I just like the 'wrong' side better here and even though the seam under the toe is sticking out, no one can see, right? :-)

The original plan was to knit four pairs in Socktober, but I'm going to try to squeeze in two more pairs. Since none of these socks are for me, I think the next pair will be mine. That's fair, don't you think?

Wednesday, 30 May 2007

May has turned out to be a month of socks around here. I'm so far behind in my blogging that I haven't posted the progress, but here are all the socks that've been done in the past few weeks. Simple, simple socks to restore the knitting groove.

Hot off the needles are Aija's RPMs. After seeing Kris', I knew that if ever I had variegated Lorna's Laces sock yarn, that's what it would become. And thanks to Jeanne, I got some LL in Lakeview. These RPMs were knit on 2.25 mm needles, over 63 st. I subbed in a round toe. Except for the area around the gusset, the colors didn't pool much, and I like how the ridges on the pattern breaks up the colors.

I broke into the new sock yarn stash for the next pair of socks (Mata Haris by Craftoholic Steph). They're knit in Rio de la Plata's sock yarn (Coral rose colorway), a thin 100% superwash wool that's a real treat for the feet. It's really soft, the color is nearly solid, and there's 437 yds a ball.

These were knit over 64 st, with the yos mirroring each other. I've yet to wash them, but I expect they wouldn't last as long as the LL which has some nylon in it.

And the simplest socks of all, a pair of st st socks for Y. I had bought this Opal Feelings yarn (color 1701) after I made these for L, and wanted a pair of rainbow socks for myself. However, I've since decided I need more sophisticated stripes, heh, and used this for Y instead. I knit them a half inch longer (8 and a half inches!! for a 7 year old) with the hope that the socks will still fit in winter.

The socks doing somersaults. :-)

I still have a couple of pairs in the immediate queue, but my fingers are protesting the dpns, so I'll be taking a break from socks, and work on some simple shawls instead!

Friday, 11 May 2007

Spearheading my list of simple socks are these Charades, free pattern by Sandra of I May be Knitting a Ranch House. Lovely texture with such an easy to remember two row pattern. I made several minor mods, including centering the instep pattern so that there's a knit stitch on each side of the 'herringbone', lengthening the heel flap, and subbing round toes, which provide a good fit for my narrow toes.

The yarn is Koigu, my first! I was worried about running out of yarn (my feet are very long) so I shortened the leg to about five and a half inches. It turned out I had about seven grams leftover from each skein. I love the subtle colors in this colorway (P701), but even though the two skeins are from the same dyelot, the right sock has more dark splotches of color. If you're interested, here's a close-up of the stitches and colors.

Probably won't be my last Koigu, nor my last Charades, as I think this pattern would make great Dad or brother socks too!

Thursday, 29 March 2007

During a particularly cold weekend a few months ago, I gave my mom the Mermaid socks to keep her feet warm. While it was obvious that she liked them, it was my dad who was truly amazed, inspecting the stitches, first on one side of the sock, then the other, and the heels. "They're knit?!!?!!" A sock giftee is born! And while I don't need an excuse to knit socks for my father, it helps that his birthday is coming up, and that I had something of a deadline to spur me on.

I had considerably less yarn than required in the pattern, so I started off with 72 st, instead of 80 and then decreasing down the leg, which was also shortened here. It turned out I had enough, and ended up with just two grams left.

Do you know your dad's shoe size? I'd wanted to suprise mine with the socks so I didn't ask. I overestimated my dad's feet length by almost an inch! It turns out his feet are about the same size as mine. Oops. I'll have to redo the toes, or make him another pair and give these to someone else. Either way, he's going to have well fitting socks if it's the last thing I do!

So did I work on any of the wips when these socks were done? heh.

It's been a stressful week, with lots going on at work and home. By the end of the day, my brain is just not functioning well enough to blog (or email, or comment, sorry!), but st st, in aran weight yarn, for a seamless garment, that I can handle. I had just finished it this morning, and I've not had a chance to take proper pictures. There'll be a full report next time. :-)

Friday, 16 March 2007

Socks are knit from Grumperina's pattern in IK Spring 2007, with 100g sock yarn (color 012) from Sundara. No modifications. I started them on Brittany dpns, but found the points too blunt to do the p2togs, so switched to sharper pointed dpns. Simple socks with lovely details, just the kind I pull out of the sock drawer time and time again. And because I'm on a sock roll, I started this pair:

Monday, 15 January 2007

These were based on Nancy Bush's Hiiumaa Mismatched Mates in Knitting on the Road. It turned out after knitting the first sock (on the left) that I had enough blue left over for an entire sock, so that I could stripe the second one any way I liked. I find totally random stripes rather difficult to do, as my hands would unwittingly continue knitting in one color unless I knew ahead of time where to change colors, so these ended up with patterned stripes. The yarn is Jaeger Baby Merino 4 ply, one skein Indigo, plus one white dyed with Limeade Koolaid (lots leftover), and knit at 56 st on 2.25 mm needles. They're for Y, the little one who wanted his own socks, just because his brothers had handknit socks.

When I finished the first one, I was so sure I couldn't be happier with another stripe pattern, and yet, when I was knitting the second, it became my favorite. Put side by side, I can't decide.

I like the stripes on the reverse side too, but there was no way I could purl every row for socks. There're small jogs at the beginning of the rounds, but not so bad that I wanted to do something about them.

The round toes are becoming my favorite, especially since I'm not that fond of doing the K stitch. After the socks were done, I started something new immediately. It's Pampas, from Rowan 40:

Once in a while, when my stash becomes overwhelming and there's no space to stuff another ball of yarn in the cupboard or under the table, I have a great urge to knit up the biggest pack of chunkiest yarn. The chunkiest was the Rowan Chunky Print, which I'd bought a few months ago to make Mist, thinking I could figure out the pattern without paying kit prices. (Never mind that it's on sale now, and I'm so kicking myself!) I still think I could figure out the pattern, but I just don't have the time right now. I have to make room!

Pampas is written to be knit with Big Wool at 10 st/ 10 cm, while mine knits at 13.5 st/ 10 cm, using 8 mm needles. I'm not totally sure of the gauge, as the thick and thin texture, and the somewhat loose stitches make it difficult to measure. I erred on the side of small when deciding on the number of sts to cast on, because I think it'll stretch a bit with wear. What you see above (back plus two front, with shoulders seamed, ends woven in, and half a sleeve) is two day's worth of knitting over the weekend, when I stayed home most of the time. Don't expect it finished in another two days though, as I'm stuck at the sleeve cap shaping at the moment, plus I don't have the correct sized crochet hook to do the edging. But soon, I hope.

Monday, 08 January 2007

The colors have considerably faded, compared to the yarn. It's the 'Fire' colorway, and each of my socks weighed 48 grams, but there was over ten grams leftover from a '100 gram' skein! Other than the bleeding colors, the yarn is holding up pretty well for an all wool sock. It's been cold these past weeks, and I've been putting my handknit socks through the paces. The wool/nylon socks don't show as much wear as the all wool ones, whose sole stitches are all flattened after a day's wear. I must have a heavy step, and I think I need to knit myself some more socks so there'll be more pairs in rotation, and they don't wear out as fast. :-)

Instead of working on some of my wips, I started this sock for Y, using some bargain bin Jaeger baby merino 4 ply in indigo and a ball of white dyed with 4 packs of limeade Koolaid. The pattern is based on the mismatched socks in Nancy Bush's Knitting on the Road, but I haven't decided on the stripes for the second sock; it'll depend on how much blue yarn I have after this one is done.

Wednesday, 03 January 2007

I hope you all had a good and peaceful holiday, with family, and feasting.

We had a very relaxing Christmas vacation in the Maldives. Y summed it pretty well when he asked me the second day on Sun Island, if all we were going to do was swim and eat. That and sleeping and fishing, which was fantastic for me because I like easy fishing, none of that challenging figuring out your prey thing. The fish were very abundant, and huge too! The other thing I love about the islands are the shallow lagoons with all the coral and colorful fish. If I were a more confident swimmer, I'd definitely try diving there.

(The seaplane view of the myriad islands that make up the Maldives was just amazing!)

Nothing made the boys happier than playing with sand.

On the one day when we had very bad weather and our excursions were cancelled, I knit up some of my second Jitterbug sock, which I'd started on the plane going, and finished on the plane back. I did consider knitting on the beach, which seemed a romantic notion, but I was just too anal about getting sand in my knitting.

The bright reds, pink, and orange are just impossible to capture, but they're wonderful together. These socks are knit in a basic 3 x 1 rib (60 st on 2.25mm needles), and in my continuing search for the perfect narrow toe, I tried a star toe out of Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks. This toe is not narrow, but I didn't bother changing it, and the p3 tog on five consecutive rows do make for a tiny bit holey toe near the end, but there's no grafting needed.

I saved them so I could wear them on my birthday a few days ago. The thing about having a birthday so close to Christmas is I could treat myself either to two small gifts, or a nice big one. This year, I went for big, and (finally) got a swift.

This swift is from getknitted. (Did I ever mention it's one of my favorite stores?) Now I can get my little elves to wind up my yarn! ;-)

The only thing is this swift is not clamped to the table, and has a tendency to shift if it's on a slippery surface, but the little one is winding up all my gift yarns without any problems.

The Jitterbugs are my last fo of 2006, but there're still a couple more I'd finished before Christmas. I'm quite behind in blogging, but I hope to post about them soon.